"Cereal Killer" grain mill
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got mine last August just ran 29 pounds thru it for my brew on Thursday, I have crushed 1400 pounds with it as of today and not had a problem
blow it out with air when I am done milling, put it back in the box it came in then up on the shelf
for the 100 bucks it costs it has worked well
S_M
blow it out with air when I am done milling, put it back in the box it came in then up on the shelf
for the 100 bucks it costs it has worked well
S_M
I have had no issues with this mill. Run close to 1000 lbs of grain through mine and keeps on grinding. Clean the dust after your done and stick it in the box and store in a dry place and you should be good. I got mine for $90 free shipping so it was hard to beat that deal.
augiedoggy
Well-Known Member
In case this hasnt been mentioned before. I discovered why so many complain of having a stuck roller a couple days ago...I adjusted my gap a couple days ago and found its very easy to bind the roller when adjusting it even slightly without using correct feeler gauges or reference... it would turn like a half turn then get hard to turn ... my guess is if many take a good look at the gap adustment and try spinning the roller while doing it they will find the cams where out of parallel adjustment and this is whats causing the "sticky" roller...
after readjusting mine I ground the rest of the 19lbs of grain with no problems...
after readjusting mine I ground the rest of the 19lbs of grain with no problems...
other than turning the wooden base around, what else do i need to do to break in my Cereal Killer and get it ready for its first brew?
just got mine in the mail today.
have folks noticed any oil on the rollers that needs to be washed off? does anything need to be oiled? etc...
danke!
just got mine in the mail today.
have folks noticed any oil on the rollers that needs to be washed off? does anything need to be oiled? etc...
danke!
Problem solved. I contacted Adventures in Home brewing and they sent me a replacement. The new one is a much better machine. The bearings are a major improvement over the brass bushings. The knurl on the rollers is much more aggressive. I was told that I had originally received the early design. This new design is much better. I've run a few batches thru it and am very pleased. I fully endorse this mill. It works great.
Cheers!
I've now run probably 400lbs through mine with no issues whatsoever. Consistent crush, have had no problem with idle roller binding up. Basically, I can count on the killer to make reliable fast work of any amount of grain I throw at it.
Sent from my iPad using Home Brew
Sent from my iPad using Home Brew
use my CK for the first time on saturday. worked great, save for one jam that caused the mill to seize and the drill to slightly blemished the axel (or whatever you call the shaft that the drill connects to). it didn't strip it, but did leave a small indented "skid mark". probably because there was a stone in the malt. i reversed the drill manually and the milling proceeded as if nothing happened. i inspected the rollers after i finished milling and didn't see any damage.
really happy with this purchase, based on this first use.
really happy with this purchase, based on this first use.
Mine just got hear Friday- a gift from the wife. I have a couple of BIAB kits that were pre-milled so it will be awhile before I try it out.
joshrosborne
Well-Known Member
I bought one of these a couple months ago when I got into AG brewing and absolutely love it. It was affordable and it does exactly what I need it to: crush grain. It fits easily on top of a Homer bucket, which is where it stays when it's not in use. Outside of a chest freezer I use as a fermentation chamber, this is the best brewing purchase I've made so far. I now buy 55lb sacks of base malt and my per batch price is dirt cheap now.
Jupapabear
Well-Known Member
I've used mine for about 15 batches now. I highly recommend this mill.
not any more. the first incarnations were pretty weak but it seems that they've fixed those problems. order away.
Just got mine on Friday. My local brew shop uses the CK to grush their grains. It's a new brew shop, just celebrated their 1 yr anniversary. He told me that he's run thousands of lbs thru it and he loves it. Seems to crush good and fast. I've not seen them clean it or check the setting, doesn't mean that they don't. 
I am now wanting to get a better handle on my brew efficiency, I decided to get one and start crushing my own. I set it to .037, but am wondering what other's use? I read the one post about .035.
Looking forward to running lots of grain thru it.
I am now wanting to get a better handle on my brew efficiency, I decided to get one and start crushing my own. I set it to .037, but am wondering what other's use? I read the one post about .035.
Looking forward to running lots of grain thru it.
I'm at 0.024, as I recall. Different systems can handle widely different crush sizes, it seems. My mash setup is old school: cooler with slotted copper manifold. I think most now use the wire mesh tube. Denny Conn always says crush til you're scared.
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Sent from my iPad using Home Brew
Grannyknot
Well-Known Member
I am usually at .025 on mine, using conditioned grain, & get 83% efficiency every time.
Using a circular cooler & false bottom. Never had a stuck sparge.
Did have a slow sparge once when I used 30% rye.
Using a circular cooler & false bottom. Never had a stuck sparge.
Did have a slow sparge once when I used 30% rye.
I just bought one, UPS say it's out for delivery today. I've used a borrowed Barley Crusher in the past and was consistently hitting 80% efficiency with that, so the Cereal Killer should be able to give me similar results. Mainly I'm after consistency though.
I'm actually upping sticks and moving to NC, very close to a very well stocked LHBS but I know that their mills are set on the coarse side. I'm also moving from a house with fantastic well water to a house with chloramine'd city water, so the $150 or so savings over getting a CrankandStein 3D and buying/building a base and hopper for it will pay for an RO system.
Will post back with results after a brew or two.
I'm actually upping sticks and moving to NC, very close to a very well stocked LHBS but I know that their mills are set on the coarse side. I'm also moving from a house with fantastic well water to a house with chloramine'd city water, so the $150 or so savings over getting a CrankandStein 3D and buying/building a base and hopper for it will pay for an RO system.
Will post back with results after a brew or two.
augiedoggy
Well-Known Member
I have also put about 6 sacks of grain plus various specialty malts through mine with not problems... I motorized mine with a stepper motor and some pulleys I bought at tractor supply and since then I have put close to 200lbs through it with no problems...
It showed up this morning. Unpacked, assembled and tentatively gapped using a credit card. I'll pick up a set of feeler gauges at some point and set it properly. No more or less substantial than a Barley Crusher. Unfortunately it will have to wait until after I move to get it's first workout.
What are you driving the stepper motor with?
A few hundred pounds through my CK too - I think it might need cleaning though, the driven roller was getting sticky. I didnt take it apart and lube it up when I first bought it.
augiedoggy
Well-Known Member
I was mistaken too many projects lately... I am actually using an old gear reduction motor from a xerox engineering copier... I have a box of them sitting in my garage so figured hey why not give it a shot.
I found that the rollers stick if the cams are not perfectly adjusted on each end to match...it created a bind which makes the roller turn hard/easy/ hard as you spin it.
JONNYROTTEN
Well-Known Member
I like mine,I use a cordless drill,no dust with the wood plate over bucket.No complaints
Thats too bad - a variable speed stepper motor circuit would be cool. I've done stuff with smaller stepper motors but not one big enough to drive this mill.
Hacky2447
Member
Im finding that my CKseems to have the same issues as others have stated.
The crank handle is completely useless. It doesn't even crank when I put grain in it, as the screw just spins on the shaft not holding it in place.
The rollers seem out of wack. When I set the gap and tighten it down, the rollers tighten down further and makes the gap smaller on the sides, but wider in the middle.
I so far have only used it for one batch, as I am worried to try it again. The crush it provided last time, was like oatmeal in the mash tun, and created a LOT of flour.
I may have it gapped too close, and the drill i used wouldn't budge it until i cranked it full speed. I will use a high torque drill and see if that changes anything on it, but I am skeptical at best about it.
The crank handle is completely useless. It doesn't even crank when I put grain in it, as the screw just spins on the shaft not holding it in place.
The rollers seem out of wack. When I set the gap and tighten it down, the rollers tighten down further and makes the gap smaller on the sides, but wider in the middle.
I so far have only used it for one batch, as I am worried to try it again. The crush it provided last time, was like oatmeal in the mash tun, and created a LOT of flour.
I may have it gapped too close, and the drill i used wouldn't budge it until i cranked it full speed. I will use a high torque drill and see if that changes anything on it, but I am skeptical at best about it.
What did you gap it at? I believe I gapped mine at 0.037" (IIRC)
I also measured the run-out on the the rollers at less the 0.005" (Again IIRC....)
My 18V Dewalt spins mine in both low and high gear most excellently.
Here is a video of it - the crush has been excellent - maybe you got a lemon?
[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zJPpj9FiTCo&list=UUPu0i3spSLdIbvpsBP_oGzg[/ame]
augiedoggy
Well-Known Member
There is a flat on the shaft for the screw so it would be pretty damn unlikely that the crank would spin without the shaft..... unless it was assembled incorrectly?
Schmoltsbeer
Well-Known Member
I have had my CK for about a year. It seems like a good mill, with nothing to compare it to. However, when adjusting tand tightening the locking screws down they mill will come out of set if you don't hold the adjustment knob while tightening. Similarly, I tend to get super fine crushes with unconditioned grain. If I wet the grain a little bit before grinding the fine crush is fine. Also, when using a drill I tend to get a more fine mill than when I hand crank so I have taken to hand cranking because conditioning just takes too much of my time. Long story short, I get good efficiency (75%) or so with a setting around .040, and with other process improvements I would probably see even better efficiency. The machine holds up well, though I am not too rough with it, and I rarely actually need to reset the gap.
I've been using mine for several months now and here are my thoughts.
The mill functions pretty well over all and you can certainly dial in a crush that will work for you. I'm a happy camper.
Two minor complains- first, I do find that sometimes, no matter how hard I turn the nobs to hold the rollers in place, they do push apart a hair as the mill spins. Once or twice, I've had to grind at least some my grains a second time because the last pound or so isn't as crushed as the first. This is only a minor inconvenience. Secondly, the hopper can be knocked off very easily if you aren't careful.
The mill functions pretty well over all and you can certainly dial in a crush that will work for you. I'm a happy camper.
Two minor complains- first, I do find that sometimes, no matter how hard I turn the nobs to hold the rollers in place, they do push apart a hair as the mill spins. Once or twice, I've had to grind at least some my grains a second time because the last pound or so isn't as crushed as the first. This is only a minor inconvenience. Secondly, the hopper can be knocked off very easily if you aren't careful.
Hacky2447
Member
There is no flat part in the shaft of my grain mill. It just spins. Is the main shaft supposed to have one flat side, and not completely round all the way around it?
I have reset the gap on the mill to be the credit card size, which IIRC its .0037? Anyway.. I bought a new drill over the weekend. Its a low speed high torque drill that goes to a max of 550 RPM.
The new drill worked really well with the grain mill, and provided an excellent crush to help get me to 78% or higher efficiency.
Over all, I am not completely stoked on the manufacturing of the mill, but It does what it's suppose to do. It gave me a very fine crush like in the video example you attached, and didn't get a stuck sparge.
I didn't order the handle and have never used. It is true that the adjustment has a little play, but I've been able to finesse it and get the rollers to end up at the gap I want - set it a little wider than you want with a larger gap, and then tighten down to the actual target gap. I've had good luck around .026 with an IGLOO mash tun with a copper slotted manifold, after having tried settings down to 0.019 or so. I think the crush you need seems to vary widely based on your mash tun setup. I did end up buying a beefy drill to run it. I can't say how it compares to more expensive mills, but I've been generally happy.
I hope you can get it to work for you.
Hacky2447
Member
The last recent batch I did, I adjusted the rollers in the same fashion of which you are talking about, but i used a credit card as the gap tool.
Using the low RPM Drill that i show in my previous post. The crush was MUCH more even and very good efficiency.
augiedoggy
Well-Known Member
There is on mine.... it doesn't run to the end of the shaft though so you cant see it unless the crank is removed... maybe it was something they added or removed from production? I have a pulley mounted to mine now or id take a picture...There is no flat part in the shaft of my grain mill. It just spins. Is the main shaft supposed to have one flat side, and not completely round all the way around it?
I have reset the gap on the mill to be the credit card size, which IIRC its .0037? Anyway.. I bought a new drill over the weekend. Its a low speed high torque drill that goes to a max of 550 RPM.
The new drill worked really well with the grain mill, and provided an excellent crush to help get me to 78% or higher efficiency.
Over all, I am not completely stoked on the manufacturing of the mill, but It does what it's suppose to do. It gave me a very fine crush like in the video example you attached, and didn't get a stuck sparge.
Hacky2447
Member
I will take a picture of the shaft of my grain mill. When I look at the picture of the one on their site and look at mine, The only difference was that the screw on the hand crank didn't have the retaining nut.
Meh, I am using a drill now so its a moot point.
augiedoggy
Well-Known Member
Without the retaining nut theres nothing to stop the screw from just backing out with use which would have caused the issues you were having...
like you said its a moot point now. But at least we know why you had the problem and others dont... It would still be the manufacturers fault the nut was missing.
I just received a unit on Tuesday and there is a flat on the shaft like you described.
